Seat for vehicle, particularly motor vehicle

ABSTRACT

Seat for vehicle, particularly a motor vehicle, including a seat and a back rest of which the part against which rests the back of a person sitting in the seat has a support which is mounted so as to oscillate together with the back of said person, substantially in the plane of the back rest and in an upward and downward direction with respect to the seat.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a seat for a vehicle, particularlymotor vehicle, comprising a bottom and a back.

When a motor car, for example, moves along the road, the always-presentunevenesses of the road cause oscillations of this car, and consequentlyof the seats thereof, along an up and down direction.

It has been noticed that this phenomenom is often the cause of acutepains in the passenger back, or even severe impairments to the integrityof some vertebrae or of the spinal cord included in the vertebralcolumn.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One of the essential objects of the present invention is to provide aseat which may be suitable for any kind of car used for conveyingpassengers, such as motor car or railroad car, allowing to obviate saiddrawbacks and this without requiring to modify the known location orfastening of the standard seats.

For this purpose according to the invention, that portion of the seatback against which bears the back of an individual who is sitting in theseat, has a rest which is so mounted as to be swingable together withthe back of this individual, substantially along the seat back plane andin an up and down direction relative to the seat.

Advantageously, this rest is mounted on a frame integral with th seatback and extending substantially along the plane thereof, throughresilient return means letting this rest swing about a fixed pointrelative to the frame.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a trim in theshape of an endless strip, is stretched about the seat back, the restand two rollers with horizontal rotating axes mounted on the top andbottom of the seat back.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

Other details and features of the invention will stand out from thedescription, given hereinafter by way of non limitative example, of aparticular embodiment of the invention, with reference to theaccompanying drawing which shows diagrammatically and in verticalsection, a seat from a motor car.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

This seat comprises a bottom 1 and a back 2, which is for example hingedto the bottom.

This bottom is mounted conventionally on the floor 3 of the car, in sucha way that the fastening means thereof on this floor have not beenshown.

According to the invention, that portion of the seat back against whichbears the back 4 of an individual taking place in the seat, is providedwith a rest 5 so mounted as to reciprocate together with the back 4 ofthis individual, substantially along the plane of the seat and in an upand down direction relative to the bottom, as shown by the double arrow6.

This rest 5 is mounted on a frame 7 integral with the seat back 2 andextending substantially along the plane thereof, through resilient means8 letting this rest 5 reciprocate along the direction of the arrows 6relative to a fixed point 9 of the frame.

This frame may for example be comprised of metal sections as the framesused in the conventional seats of motor cars.

The base 10 of this frame lies in the back portion of bottom 1 and ishinged on a metal frame 11 integrated in a horizontal position insidethe lower portion of the bottom. It may be a frame known per se, bearingthe springs not shown, of bottom 1.

The frame 7 generally has a rectangular shape and is comprised of twouprights 12 and two horizontal cross-ties 13 and 14, respectivelyconnecting the upper and lower portions of said uprights 12.

In the embodiment of the seat as shown in the FIGURE, these cross-ties13 and 14 are comprised of rods or shafts on which are freely-rotatablymounted, respectively, two pulleys 15 and 16 lying on the inner side offrame 7, adjacent both uprights 12 thereof.

Flexible links such as belts 17 and 18, are trained over said pulleysand connect the rest 5 through resilient members 8 to the fixed point 9lying on the opposite side of frame 7 relative to rest 5.

Thus on each side edge of the seat back, adjacent each one of theuprights 12, there is provided a pair of pulleys 15 and 16 with whichcooperate respectively, belts 17 and 18, the one end of these beltsbeing secured to rest 5, the other end being joined to the one resilientmember, these members being fastened to the fixed point 9.

In the embodiment as shown in the FIGURE, this fixed point ismaterialized by an additional reinforcement cross-tie parallel to theshafts 13 and 14 and connecting both uprights 12.

The rest cooperates with frame 7 through two slides 18 arranged on thefront sides of the uprights 12 along the lengthwise direction thereof,or on a support not shown, which is in turn fastened to these uprights12.

It may for example be a matter of conventional slides having a portionmounted on the back side of rest 5, and a portion on the uprights 12 oron the support secured thereto, both these portions may then cooperatethrough rollers or bearings shown diagrammatically in the FIGURE, asindicated by reference 20.

The rest 5 is comprised in this embodiment, of a cushion which is sopadded and profiled as to follow the back shape of the individual whotakes place in the seat.

A trim 21 in the shape of an endless strip, is stretched about the rest5 and two rollers 22 and 23 mounted for free rotation respectively onthe shafts 13 and 14, as the pulleys 15 and 16, to then pass in front ofthe back side of frame 7, thus concealing the resilient members 8 andthe fixed point 9.

The surface of this trim may possibly be completly or partly padded.

Finally the finishing of the seat back 2 may be completed by two sidecheeks not shown in the drawing, made from a substantially rigidmaterial and also covered with a trim.

These cheeks might for example be mounted on the outer side surfaces ofuprights 12 with screws or other similar fasteners.

When necessary, a head-rest 24 may be suitably arranged on the uppershaft 13, which should be fixed in this case.

To make mounting this head-rest easier, the upper roller 22 might forexample be comprised of a plurality of assembled parts.

As this is within the grasp of any man of the art, it did not seemuseful to go more in the details.

The resilient members 8 are comprised in this embodiment, of returnsprings which allow to retain the rest 5 in a middle position when sameis not stressed.

The length and resiliency of these springs, the dimensions of the frame7 and mostly the weight of the rest 5 are so selected as to lower asmuch as possible the inertia action of the moving unit when the seat issubjected to up and down oscillations in the direction of arrows 6.

Thus due to the pressure exerted by the back 4 of an individual seatedin the seat, against the rest 5, this latter one will follow accuratelythe up and down oscillating movement of the back.

These up and down oscillating movements are caused, as already statedhereinabove, by the road unevenesses, which result in impacts, veryvaried in nature, being conveyed to the floor 3 and being reflected onthe bottom 1 rigidly secured to this floor.

Moreover due to the inertia action on the body of said individual, theseoscillations may be amplified and thus become relatively large.

By means of the movable rest 5 and the low inertia of the movable unit,no relative movement occurs between the back 4 and the rest 5, duringthese oscillatory movements.

The back may thus follow accurately the movements of the lower portionof the body bearing on the bottom, while being suitably supported.

Tests made with individuals feeling back pains, have allowed to noticethe beneficial effect on the vertebral column of the presence of thismovable rest, not only over very uneven roads, but also on roads havingon first sight a relatively even surface.

It is well understood that the invention is not limited to thisembodiment and that many changes might be considered without departingfrom the scope of the present patent, notably as regards the mountingmechanism for the rest on the seat back.

One might possibly provide a removable rest which might thus be mounteddirectly over the front surface of backs from existing seats.

In such a case, one might possibly use a rigid frame which would besecured in an unmovable position on the seat back, and which would thenbear outwardly the rest through suitable means, such as slides, so as tolet this latter one oscillate on this frame along an up and downdirection, as in the particular embodiment shown in the FIGURE.

I claim:
 1. Seat for vehicle, particularly a motor vehicle, said seatcomprising:a bottom, a back, a portion of said back against which bearsthe back of an individual sitting in the seat, said portion of said backincludes a rest mounted for reciprocation relative to the bottom, saidrest being movable relative to the bottom and being mounted on a frameintegral in said back, said frame extending substantially along a planeof the back and cooperating with the rest through resilient return meansfor letting said rest reciprocate about a fixed point on the frame, onlyalong opposite directions toward and away from the bottom, meansrevolving about a horizontal axis located at a top and a bottom of saidframe, while said resilient return means connect said rest to a fixedpoint located on an opposite frame side relative to said rest, by beingtrained over said means, and a trim in the shape of an endless stripextends about said back over said rest and two rollers having horizontalrevolving axes, one of said two rollers mounted on each of a top and abottom of said back whereby said trim moves with said rest turning aboutsaid two rollers.
 2. Seat according to claim 1 wherein the restcooperates with the frame through slides.
 3. Seat according to claim 1,wherein the axes of the top and bottom rollers coincide respectivelywith the top and bottom axes of said pulleys.